On Sunday the West Australian newspaper said, without citing sources, that the Qantas order would include 12 A350s, 20 A321XLRs and 20 A220s as well as purchase rights for 106 more airplanes spread among the different types. Qantas, which has said it would make a significant announcement on Monday about the future of its network, declined to comment. The Airbus expansion comes days after Boeing further delayed the development of its 777X jetliner, which had at one stage been in contention to allow direct flights from Australia’s east coast to London and New York.Īn Airbus-owned A350-1000 was flying on Sunday from Toulouse to Perth, tracking service FlightRadar24 showed. Qantas in 2018 started non-stop flights from Perth, in Western Australia, to London that take 17 hours to carry passengers 14,500km or 9,000 miles. Today’s one-stop flights take almost 24 hours.

The Australian airline launched the route in 1947 with Lockheed Constellations, when it took several stops and 58 hours of flying.

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